It has been revealed that the lead coordinator with the main government-funded Drug and Alcohol Task Force in the South East has not been in his position for the past six years.

The matter was revealed by WLR who learned exclusively that the position has been filled on an interim basis for the past number of years.

The interim coordinator, like the person who was appointed to the position full-time, was appointed through the Health Service Executive and both work for the HSE.

A member of the committee says there are only four meetings of the group – which oversees the DRIVE project in the South East – every year and some meetings only take place online.

The HSE has been requested to clarify why the lead position of full-time coordinator has not been filled in the past six years.

A local Waterford councillor said today that he sits on the committee and says that in between meetings he never hears from anybody in relation to any items raised at meetings.

He believes the group is not functioning properly.

Cllr Declan Barry (Independent) told Deise Today that the lack of a full-time, designated coordinator is impeding progress.

“We need urgent clarification on what is happening as this is a very, very important matter,’ he said.  “Meetings are scheduled and cancelled at short notice for no apparent reason.  It’s not functioning as it should be.”

The matter came to the public attention after the launch of a murder investigation in Waterford city following the fire in Birchwood – and in more recent days, with the wider issues of drugs debt intimidation and drugs usage and addiction being raised by many people.

Councillor Barry is the only elected Waterford Council rep on the committee of the Gov-funded ‘Drive’ project.

Requests for comments have been made to representatives of the South East Regional Drug and Alcohol Task Force (SERDATF) – the body tasked with coordinating the regional response to substance misuse across Carlow, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Waterford, and Wexford.

The “DRIVE” project is under the auspices of SERDATF.

It stands for Drug Related Intimidation and Violence Engagement and involves the Gardai and other groups.

Independent MEP Michael MacNamara has raised issues of funding for DRIVE projects this week and following this morning’s revelations said it is vital that the matter in relation to the South East group is clarified as soon as possible and he is also calling on the HSE to address questions raised by the programme.